I need your advice

So, as always, the medical profession have left me and google scholar to our own devices to fix my body.

Which is fucking bullshit, but the way it is.

Since starting with Lucifer The Physio, my shoulder has been getting progressively worse after a short stint of relief, culminating in last night waking at 2am screaming in pain with my shoulder completely seized up, my arm bent at the elbow pointing to the ceiling.

(I am assuming that I was attempting to roll over at the time)

On Tuesday I had an ultrasound and the awesome sonographer talked me through the images showing me the partial tear to my rotator cuff, and explaining that given my range of movement and what he could see I most probably had adhesive capsulitis.

Commonly known as motherfucking frozen fucking shoulder.

Of course. Cause it is never just one thing.

It is always just shy of worse possible scenario, meaning maximum pain and inconvenience with minimal acceptance from others.

Right now I am positively delirious from lack of sleep. During the day the pain is manageable as long as I don’t actually USE my shoulder or keep it still for very long.

No grabbing, lifting, reaching, pushing, pulling, squeezing, or any of that stuff as directed by Lucifer.

Keep it moving, according to Google Scholar.

And Medscape and Wikipedia and random sites with ultrasound pictures that look like the ones I was given on a convenient CD.

So, like my blog, I am living a contradiction. Keep it still and rest the tear, keep it moving to stop it from freezing completely.

And find a fucking doctor that knows what they are talking about in this gah-forsaken town.

In the meantime I so desperately want to sleep that I have sent MPS out for a bottle of wine – my tipple of choice, tequila, doesn’t make me sleepy – and I shall medicinally down the bottle with a side of fries.

Hopefully falling into a drunken stupor in the general vicinity of my bed and waking in the morning refreshed.

Or at least not ready to gnaw my own arm off to the neck just for some fucking relief from the screaming.

Any one a medical professional or play one on the internet that has some advice for me?

Lived through this and have some tips for pain relief?

Commiserate/cautionary tales?

OBVIOUSLY, I will be consulting with doctors and my physio like I have been for the last few YEARS but forewarned is forearmed.

Geez – I wish I could suggest something but I have nothing apart from maybe having a soak in epsom salts in a bath that is not too hot and water that covers your should. Quite often the phosphates in the epsom salts can help with muscle injuries/repairs.
Other than that I think your choice of painkiller sounds like it may work – hopefully you won’t try to roll over wherever you have landed and wake yourself up !!! I know that lack of sleep is a killer but lack of sleep coupled with pain is a double whammy and just sucks big time !!!
Wish there was something I could do to help – thinking of you and hoping you find an answer soon.
Love, hugs and positive energy !
Me

I had frozen shoulder for a while and the best relief I got was in the spa with the jet pointed directly on it whilst doing my own manipulation. If no spa then I would try massage and manipulation in the bath or under the shower. Physio definitely made it worse.

Do NOT keep it still to rest the torn tendon, that was my mistake, the shoulder froze completely. Keep it moving. Small movements, little up and down shrugs, wiggle back and forth, the shoulder, not you, bend at the waist and swing the arm back and forth as far as you can without pain, then side to side like an elephant trunk as far as you can with out pain, the range will gradually increase. There are other exercises I can email you, but with your level of pain I would recommend a visit to an orthopaedic specialist, he may send you for an injection into the joint, which hurts like hell, but when the joint “pops” the pressure is instantly relieved. I had one. I blogged about it at the time, you can read about it if you care to find the entry somewhere late in 2010. not too late, but after mid year. Heat packs help with the pain and gentle massage which you can do yourself with the good hand, nothing specific, just squeeze and rub while you shrug, wriggle and roll the shoulder.

P.S. the physio wouldn’t have torn the rotator cuff, that would have happened in the beginning and been the cause of the pain which kept you from using the arm and shoulder which has resulted in the freezing of the joint.

nodding my head … sucks, don’t it? quick question, are you a side sleeper, do you sleep on that side, do you sleep with your arm up under your ear? if you are now nodding, STOP IT IMMEDIATELY! get a great side sleep pillow and keep your wing tucked down … i slept like a bubba with my hands tucked under my cheek and it stabilised my shoulder beautifully.
comfrey cream* for healing. quality glucosamine* capsules. and gentle exercise. think i mentioned i used a TENS machine* to help release the joint, but with your other health issues you would have to *check with your regular doctor, as it IS an electrical current …
many gentle hugs and a good front-fastening bra to you … xt

I totally DO sleep like that! But can’t right now and it is killing me.

Now I need to investigate side sleeper pillows, who knew there was such a thing? And front fastening bras might be a bit of a stretch, dunno if they would come in my size but what the hell I can google them anyway. Not as if I have anything else I can do!
x

You could look at trying Bowen therapy. I’ve had great results for a couple of problems and now choose it over physio. You need to feel comfortable with the therapist (which goes for ant therapist you see). Hope you recover swiftly.

Hey.. I know you don’t know me and so why trust me with advice but I will give it a whirl. Try Homeopathy. What have you got to lose. I live by it. Find a practitioner if possible. Pain management and these types of issues with your body can be helped. Don’t ignore your medical/physio and all that but utilize a remedy to help you through this. I know people think it’s quackery but I swear it works and on very complex things. I’m not the only one who swears by it. Gentle hugs to you!

I crushed my shoulder and humerus head several years ago. The immobilization following the reconstructive surgeries led to capsulitis that could not be resolved or released by physical therapy (most painful experience in my life). Nothing like having two physical therapists both hanging off the arm and not getting any of scar tissue to release for causing pain.

I ended up having to have arthroscopic surgery yet to release the scars/adhesions followed by yet another round of very painful physio. Fortunately, there was motion imposed immediately after the surgical release and all resolved to normal with the PT for three more months.

You are not alone on the pain! I can remember taking percodan like it was candy before PT and managing to get through the hour without crying, then just bawling my heart out in pain leaving the hospital. Take consolation in the fact that it can and does get better once the issues are resolved.

On a more practical level, I’d talk to your orthopedic specialist about release under anesthetic followed by PT (and maybe repair of the rotator cuff while they are at it, if need be.) Good luck!

I have some very sage advice for you. Don’t combine pain killers and wine. I did it once because “oh, it’s only two glasses, I’ll be fine”. No. I fell over in the middle of the road and had to be dragged home by MG because I couldn’t walk. And of course no one believed that I’d only had two… I wouldn’t have either.

Ok… I have a shithouse back, a shithouse set of hips (degenerative condition) and a shithouse right shoulder that has a particularly crappy permanent pinched nerve which turns my arm and hand a delightful shade of maroon on occasion.

I’ve also had the same sort of conflicting advice.

What you need is to move without impact. Gentle, SLOW stretching and movement regular-like (like every 10 minutes), mixed with alternating heating and icing helps a lot. If you’re actually hurting while not doing anything, just rest with heat and ice. I have no idea what meds you’re already on but Mersyndol Forte, or the regular stuff, is great for pain relief and as a muscle relaxant. It also makes you sleepy so no operating heavy machinery or throwing together awesome Harry Potter parties while you’re on them. Unless you want them to be psychedelic parties in which case, go to!

Now… I’m not usually one for the hocus-pocus natural therapies thing at all, but I basically got given four myotherapy sessions for free and thought why the heck not? Can’t hurt me more than the osteo did the last time. (OMG, that was an experience in pain…)

I was massaged, poked, prodded, manoeuvred and dry-needled (which actually feels bloody good) to within an inch of my life. She also suggested that I take magnesium as my muscles were so used to bracing for pain that I could not relax them easily. No jokes, all of it helped tremendously to the point where sitting/standing/walking for long periods of time no longer hurts me. While my shoulder will always be an issue (it’s my mouse arm), my back has never felt so good. I think you’re somewhere in Victoria, and the girl I visited is in Camberwell. She could pretty much tell I was in trouble just from the way I was sitting in the chair in the waiting room when I was feeling ok, let alone poorly. Happy to pass on the details.

Alas I can’t advise anything medical wise because I have no qualifications but it sounds like you need a good doctor STAT! Okay I just wanted to say STAT! 😛 But seriously I hope you are feeling better babe!

No medical knowledge here, sorry, just plenty of commiseration. My husband had a frozen shoulder a few months ago and ended up in the ER, the pain was that bad. They sent him home with a metric crapload of meds, muscle relaxants and some fairly heavy-dut painkillers. Maybe if it gets bad enough to wake you up you should go to the hospital? Hope you get some relief soon…

Sweetheart, I gotta ask what kind of doc you are seeing for it? Speciality-wise, that is. Not even knowing the answer to my question, might I suggest turning to some other kind of specialist? My mother has had quite a good deal of success with her knee seeing a spots injury doc. She is 75. It was so not a sports injury, but still he’s turned out to be great for her.
Maybe you’ve got one down there?

Hi,
Some things I love about the internet are how helpful people are [see comments above], and how much information is readily available online. However, often there is just too much information, as your original post suggests. And, some well-intentioned advice might be inappropriate to your specific situation, or might even make things worse. SO, here are my [well-intentioned 🙂 ] suggestions:
1. Completely agree with above advice to see either a sports medicine MD or an orthopaedic MD. I think sports medicine is a subset of orthopaedics, and that most are ALSO surgeons. However, in my experience they *always* try more conservative approaches like physical therapy [yes, I know!], rest, ice / heat, etc. before surgery. They only go to surgery if absolutely necessary.
2. To avoid information overload [Dr. Google], choose a few sources that you trust. For example,
a. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons – three articles on rotator cuffs at orthoinfo.aaos.org/menus/arm.cfm .
b. Duke Medicine: http://www.dukehealth.org/orthopaedics/services/shoulder-treatments/care-guides/rotator-cuff-injuries
c. Mayo Clinic – I find their articles very easy to read: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/rotator-cuff-injury/DS00192. Please notice the links in the left nav – they include info about medical treatments AND other remedies.
d. For a ‘fourth opinion’, you might also check PubMed Health; this might again produce too much info! http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/?term=rotator+cuff , and then click ‘For consumers’.
3. I’m also interested in complementary & alternative medicine. This page has a nice list of resources: http://camprogram.georgetown.edu/resources.html
A friend of mine found acupuncture helpful for a shoulder injury years ago. I don’t know details, so this falls in the category of well-intentioned advice.
Sorry for the VERY long comment.

And Lyme disease, obviously. [Sorry, I just read an article in the New Yorker, which I am happy still exists. The magazine, not Lyme disease.] 🙂
Seriously, I’m glad you’ve gotten so many great ideas in response to your post. Hope your shoulder feels better very soon.
Meanwhile, since I’m already here, I will give one more bit of unsolicited advice: Have you ever thought about going into the party planning business? Does that role exist in your part of the world? You could set your own hours, and charge $A LOT per party. Cater to the very wealthy [for pay], and local non profits [for non pay]. Because that Harry Potter party looked excellent.
Yes, that was a bit of a tangent.

oh no! this sounds terrible – I have no medical advice, but I have some sanity advice…keep warm, drink whatever it takes, watch whatever makes you forget and know that the little internet is a good place to come for a comfort and a scream xx

Kelley I totally feel your pain. Nothing helped me until surgery. I had all forms of physical therapy and most made it worse. Gentle movement, but do not push it. It took me 3 1/2 years until I had the surgery, (capsular release) but it was not nearly as bad as I expected. Then whilst still in hospital they had me in a continuous movement machine that just gently made my shoulder move in a variety of ways. Best thing I ever did. Scariest thing as well, but ultimately I can shut the car boot. I used arnica after surgery, but nothing seems to remedy if you are in the same pain I was in. I hope I’m not the messenger of doom, but I totally know your pain, and it sucks!

Use the spa.
The spa is your friend.
Our spa is the reason I can do things like twist to look behind me while I am driving.
Physio every fortnite, spa every day.
I just direct the one jet to where the muscles have seized up.